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Dole Food Company Opens Organic Banana Farm in Colombia

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Dole achieved another major milestone toward expanding its organic operations with the recent inauguration of the company's new organic banana facility in the La Guajira region of Colombia. Dubbed the "Don Pedro" farm, the $8 million growing, harvesting, packing and shipping facility will employ more than 1,000 local residents.

November 7, 2006, 07:00 pm

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Dole achieved another major milestone toward expanding its organic operations with the recent inauguration of the company's new organic banana facility in the La Guajira region of Colombia. Dubbed the "Don Pedro" farm, the $8 million growing, harvesting, packing and shipping facility will employ more than 1,000 local residents.

"The Don Pedro banana facility is yet another example of Dole's commitment to providing the highest quality products to consumers around the world," said Dole's president and c.e.o. Richard Dahl. "This facility also exemplifies Dole's commitment to Colombia. We have invested significantly in a state-of-the-art facility that will be a model for organic banana farming for years to come." (Story continues below.)

Don Pedro is the first banana farm in Colombia with a suspended cableway harvesting system that transports product from the farm directly to the packing plants."

The facility also has a state-of-the-art irrigation system, advanced fruit cleansing operations and an aerial fruit propping system, technologies which Dahl said represents just some of Dole's advanced farming methods aimed at producing highly nutritious fruit while using limited chemical inputs.

Dole Food Co., Inc., with 2005 revenues of $5.9 billion, is among the world's largest producers and marketers of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers. Dole also markets a growing line of packaged foods and frozen fruit and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research.